139 replies to this topic

[Kali Rinpoche]

Worst mech IMO was the Clint.

Second worst is any mech with an AC20 in TT for me. What, I needed a 4 to hit? Bummer I rolled snake eyes again!

Loved my Hunchy back in the day. Fear those medium lasers I needed an 11 to hit with and always did, but bummer, missed with the can-opener again!

Edited by Kali Rinpoche, 02 December 2013 - 11:34 AM.

[SoClean]

in my opinion the awesome is a bad mech because of the colossal center torso and the beam weapons make it heat up extremely fast

[Skylarr]

SoClean, on 03 December 2013 - 01:52 PM, said:

in my opinion the awesome is a bad mech because of the colossal center torso and the beam weapons make it heat up extremely fast

This section is for everything Battletech that is not MWO. The point you bring up belongs in the MWO section.

[Davoke]

That one twin LRM5 Locust with what...24 points of armor? An AC/10 could punch right through a side torso.

[Pht]

CHARGER.

Without any doubt.

I've seen light mechs with more guns; the thing virtually can't be upgraded unless you use an XXL engine (yes, TWO x's ... extra EXTRA light)... sub-par armor for an assault, sub-par speed even though it has a massive engine ... it's the BT equivalent of a JOKE.

[dal10]

and yet can be downright nasty if you get a charge attack going. or get into melee range.

During the long attritional warfare of the Succession Wars era the Charger proved to be a reliable, low-maintenance 'Mech useful in rear areas and for garrison duty on low-tech worlds, especially in the Periphery. In its limited frontline engagements this close-assault 'Mech proved itself deadly against smaller recon elements like Wasps and Stingers and any machine whose main armament was already destroyed. Its greatest successes often came in less orthodox roles such as counter-insurgency operations.

not designed to kill other assault mechs. designed to mop up and fight other recon mechs. wasps and stingers couldn't shoot and stay out of range of that thing at the same time.

[Shrike ski]

first off I really don't think there is such a thing as a worst design, that being said many of the mechs being talked about were purpose built ie role specific and used for those roles the performed excellently (btw urbie in deep woods map rocked as well), mostly the only time a specific mech "sucked" is when it was taken from its battlefield role, in my experiences with many different groups I have routinely seen 2 locusts take out atlases, a wasp with infernos is enough to give any heavy or assault nightmares, stingers are designed for anti infantry work (standard infantry not battlesuits) warhammer and marauder were both excellent designs that routinely changed the course of a battle when used correctly (bad die rolls aside that is) now some designs were very well balanced such as the grasshopper (if you didn't move you could fire all its weapons and not gain heat) all 3025 examples by the way.

[Karl Streiger]

Davoke, on 03 December 2013 - 03:41 PM, said:

That one twin LRM5 Locust with what...24 points of armor? An AC/10 could punch right through a side torso.

Have you use it in 3025 era play (with maps big enough) - that little ****** is a pain - the AC 10 wouldn't even be capable to hit that Mech.

Yes your damage is hardly measurable, but like the BJ-1's AC 2 - to hit your target while he can not return fire in a proper way (the Locust should always produce a to hit roll of 11-12 -> while hitting most targets at a 9-11)

Biggest danger for that Locust is the Hussar.

[LoPanShui]

Pht, on 03 December 2013 - 06:09 PM, said:

CHARGER.

Without any doubt.

I've seen light mechs with more guns; the thing virtually can't be upgraded unless you use an XXL engine (yes, TWO x's ... extra EXTRA light)... sub-par armor for an assault, sub-par speed even though it has a massive engine ... it's the BT equivalent of a JOKE.

The Charger was designed for close combat terrifyingness. First this 80 ton 'Mech closes the distance much faster than anything its size ever should, then when it charges it does just ridiculous amounts of damage. After that it's impossible to get away from the damn thing in most situations, and it just starts swinging fists and firing 5 small lasers every turn, since none of the lasers are on the arms.

From 1 Hex away the Charger is a nightmare for anything of its era and still mounts a pretty serious threat up through the FedCom Civil War. In close against a Marauder the Marauder stands no chance at all, same with the really powerful Assaults like the Awesome. Once a Charger gets stuck in it goes from a joke to a pure monster.

[Pht]

LoPanShui, on 04 December 2013 - 12:07 PM, said:

The Charger was designed for close combat terrifyingness. First this 80 ton 'Mech closes the distance much faster than anything its size ever should, then when it charges it does just ridiculous amounts of damage. After that it's impossible to get away from the damn thing in most situations, and it just starts swinging fists and firing 5 small lasers every turn, since none of the lasers are on the arms.

From 1 Hex away the Charger is a nightmare for anything of its era and still mounts a pretty serious threat up through the FedCom Civil War. In close against a Marauder the Marauder stands no chance at all, same with the really powerful Assaults like the Awesome. Once a Charger gets stuck in it goes from a joke to a pure monster.

Sure. If it can get there - and vs a good assault pilot, it can't - it's not fast enough to incur enough of a to hit modifier. Good assault players know this and will shred a charger at range and than laugh at them.

[Steven Dixon]

I have to pretty much agree with the Urbanmech and Charger (with the Charger being the worst), however I also agree with VIctor Morson that both have their uses. The Urbanmech is supposed to be a cheap mech for city guerrison and it does this pretty well. It may be extremly slow but its hard to move fast in urban centers and its jump jets can give it decent mobility in cities.

The Charger is generally my choice for the worst mech. It's an assault and my friends usually played based on tonnage rather than BV so the Charger took up a bit portion of your team. Its also not really that fast and it has extremely short reach so a light mech with even moderate range can simply stay out of range, sort of like how the english defeated the spanish armada.

However it can be pretty effective if it gets up close. Its small lasers do decent damage at close range and it is actually quite effective in melee. I've played with the stock loadout before just for the heck of it and it can be used well but you have to have the right kind of map and the right kind of enemy. In the lore its supposed to be a kind of heavy scout iirc, which is a rather silly idea. Scouts should rely on stealth or speed for protection if you ask me, of course I'm sure there are some Lyran's who would disagree . As Dal10 and some others have mentioned it has its uses in the lore but still it seems a bit too expensive for its utility which is why I would place it as perhaps the worst mech (in terms of value) but still not a useless mech.

Edited by Steven Dixon, 08 December 2013 - 03:29 PM.

[Just wanna play]

Legged Locust

[dal10]

Pht, on 06 December 2013 - 09:18 AM, said:

Sure. If it can get there - and vs a good assault pilot, it can't - it's not fast enough to incur enough of a to hit modifier. Good assault players know this and will shred a charger at range and than laugh at them.

+3 to hit at max speed. if you ran as well it becomes +5. plus any range modifiers you could be looking at requiring a 11-12 to hit if you are a 4/5 pilot. and you would need the run to have a chance at holding ranges. that plus if it does it right a 64 damage attack right out the starting gate of melee. charger knows what he is doing your mechs are going to have a bad time.

[Solis Obscuri]

I'm surprised no one has brought up the Cattlemaster yet.

[dal10]

considering that it is an industrial mech it really doesn't count.

[Windschreiter]

I don't think there is any "worst" Mech, it all depends on the use of the Mech.

sure some are easier to play (e.g. Grasshopper or Awesome) but that doesn't make the builds better in my opinion.


Only thing I'd agree is that all this level two stuff did no good to BT, they should've sticked with that Lostech stuff in rarely found Star League Caches. Gladly there's the 3025 Mekwars campaign.

[Victor Morson]

Windschreiter, on 11 December 2013 - 01:55 AM, said:

I don't think there is any "worst" Mech, it all depends on the use of the Mech.

sure some are easier to play (e.g. Grasshopper or Awesome) but that doesn't make the builds better in my opinion.

Jenner, Wolfhound, Raven, Wasp...

One of these things is not like the others.

[CMetz]

Under TT rules using BV as an indicator mechs become rated more for their value at their BV then for what they are capable of. Lcts, wasps and stingers can be used effectively in swarms to gain a numbers advantage and I have seen them used well multiple times. The original griffin 1N, however is a BV black hole. Most TT players view it as an absolute no-go in any battle. Banshees are another great value for their BV and often they are found kicking legs off of hunchbacks or slower heavies. When you've played 1000's of TT games you get a feel for what every mech can do (especial in 3025 rules). But I digress... In my opinion the worst is either the grf-1n or the Bombardier. Hate that mech so so much. Stalkers aren't great either.

[iliashan]

Daboku in my opinion is the worst...and the funniest.

The result of a Draconis Combine Mustered Soldiery think tank tasked with gleaning information from the Helm Memory Core, the Daboku was unveiled in 3038 to little fanfare. A near-instant failure with flaws in almost every major system, the 'Mech was nonetheless hurried to the front lines for the War of 3039 where it became both a laughing stock and a virtual death sentence for Kuritan pilots. Problems with the CASE system protecting the ammunition bins resulted in the auto-eject triggering when the torso armor was struck in a certain manner. DCMS MechWarriors found themselves rocketing above the battlefield, often at the most inopportune moments, and ultimately took to disabling the auto-eject. Other problems included lasers that were prone to overheat, over-taxing the already burdened heat sinks, and routine jamming of the autocannon ammunition feeds, the result of an improperly designed chest cavity.
Combined, these problems persuaded the DCMS to shelve the design after the conflict. It was revisited in the 3040's and thanks to a further understanding of Star League technology ultimately became the successful MAL-1R Mauler.

[Pht]

dal10, on 09 December 2013 - 05:55 PM, said:

+3 to hit at max speed. if you ran as well it becomes +5. plus any range modifiers you could be looking at requiring a 11-12 to hit if you are a 4/5 pilot. and you would need the run to have a chance at holding ranges.

... and into the endless feedback circle/loop of tactics.

Yes, if you can force this situation, the charger is a great one (or two) trick pony.

The problem is that it is limited to this tactic; leaving it easily open to a variety of countering tactics.

For instance, a good assault pilot, as I said, would know the thing is there and plan for it, and do his best to force the charger to run across open terrain while the assault pilot either - stands still, and cuts down the to-hit and pummels the charger as it closes ... or takes a leisurely backwards shuffle at walking speed, and lets the statistics work for him.

Or you send a light/medium "courser" lance of low BV mechs at the charger, and attemt to get him into a situation where he has to chase targets at his max speed, incurring those evil to-hit modifiers, all the while exposing himself to at least one or possibly two of the lance for back shots - even better, do this with a friendly heavy-hitting assault within range of, say, ppcs or gauss rifles, and give the charger the choice of getting backshot, or pummeled at long range.

... and so on, to infinity.

Edited by Pht, 12 December 2013 - 03:56 PM.